Fishing and fishing lures have been around for hundreds of years. In an attempt to make it easier to catch fish, mankind has tried several ways to attract fish to lures. Two of the most common ways have been to make lures colorful and realistic looking. Other popular ways to attract fish to lures consist of covering the lure with some type of odor producing material, making the lure in a shape that when pulled through the water makes the lure move back and forth rapidly, or adding spinners or other devices to catch the eye of nearby fish. One method that has been found particularly useful in attracting fish is providing sound through some manner. Sound producing lures are well known in the art.
One way to produce sound, in conjunction with a lure, is to add metal attachments onto a lure in a manner such that when drawn through the water, the attachments will be forced to strike each other, thus creating a desired sound. This has been accomplished through the use of different types of spinners and rattle attachments.
Another method for producing sound is to enclose a metal ball in a cavity or chamber within the lure. As the lure is moved through the water, the action of the lure causes the ball to move around and strike the sides of the chamber thereby producing an audible noise (see e.g., Parker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,350). Different sounds may be produced by varying the number of balls within the chamber, and by varying the size of the chamber.
The prior art teaches the use of a ball or several balls within a chamber such that the balls are allowed to move in a random fashion, thereby striking each other and the exterior walls of the chamber to create the desired noise. While some benefit may be derived from using such an arrangement, such a lure provides certain drawbacks. Such drawbacks include uncontrolability of sound production, lack of ability of the lure to make realistic, life-like movements in the water, and a lack of ability to generate significant enough impacts to create a desired high volume impact sound. Therefore, there is a need for a fishing lure having an internally contained, sound producing chamber capable of producing loud impact sounds and capable of controlling the orientation of the lure in the water. The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art, and fills these and other needs.